Adding Iron Kingdoms into Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Adding Iron Kingdoms into Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
WarlockDa
10-13-04, 06:06 PM I just picked up the Character guide for Iron Kingdoms Vol 1. I must say theme wise it has a lot in common with Eberron, and I was concidering adding elements into my upcoming Eberron campaign. Now however I'm thinking about adding the entire setting as a new continant on the opposite side of Eberron. Simply stating this area happens to be a very low magic zone would reason for the mechinika useage (the Steam/Warjacks, pistols/rilfes and the like).

I wanted to toss this out for discussion and see what everyone else thought of the idea.
Bubba333
10-13-04, 07:40 PM I too have the IKCG and am thinking of adding some of it so Eberron. I had an idea for "The Warcaster Project" (or some cooler name) that's revived by members of House Cannith.

The part I'm trying to get around is the whole gunwerks bit. If you've got ideas, by all means share!
The_Declaration
10-13-04, 07:44 PM I really like your idea WarlockDa, I never thought of mixing the two settings this way, but it can get pretty insanely good if you find interesting "bridges" and plots between the continents.
Korhal IV
10-13-04, 08:52 PM So now you can be a robot, with a gun, riding a dinosaur, in D&D.

The phrase for this is "awesome!" :D Just so long as you don't tell any of the old gamers, or they'll choke you with their bare hands.
WarlockDa
10-13-04, 09:33 PM HEY! Who are you calling old!? :p Personally I've been gaming since the 80's and my view as always been for a group to do whatever it takes to get the most enjoyment out of their game :)

As far as ideas I've had: I really can't say just yet since I literally just picked up the book today, my local game shop ever so lovingly had one of their copies of IKC on their EBay store so I had to wait the 7 day bid time. (But I got it for $22!) The biggest thought I'm having is simply adding the entire continant, which I've got to research because the map that came in the IKC book looks as if it's either a section of a larger land mass or as single land mass in and of itself.

I am planning however to say there has been cross travel in the past. The Steam/War jacks could have been an invention based off the Warforged, but since the IKC land (can't recall the name) is low magic then typical Warforged simply aren't possible. Also since magic isn't nearly as common, the cultures invented firearms. Normally in Eberron such an item is uneeded, why use bullets when you have wands of fireballs?

Mostly I'd like to hear ideas on making this entire 'addon' compatible. I feel that just doing it plug and play won't work or be fair to either setting. But at the same time I don't want to rewrite both settings in order to reflect history on a shared planet.
Bubba333
10-13-04, 10:55 PM One of the biggest snags in mixing them will be the issue of the wildly different pantheons and the way they're handled.

I look at mixing them as more and issue of tech and some ideas, such as PrCs ad the like.
WarlockDa
10-14-04, 06:48 PM Depends on how you look at it. Our planet has had some very different patheons. Granted in D&D Gods are ,...shall we say more tangible, so it would be a major difference from the normal style.
Bubba333
10-14-04, 11:00 PM The gods in IK play quite a role in that setting, even going to far as to actually make healing and resurrection spells dangerous. Heck, magic in general is much less prevalent than in Eberron. It can work, but will take some effort.
kroh
10-15-04, 09:12 AM Very nice idea to mix the two...

Throw in a little Spelljammer and you will have covered all the bases (horror, Fantasy and Sci-fi).

Walt
WarlockDa
10-15-04, 06:24 PM Heh I actually had concidered Spelljammer before I even heard of IK. Just because I recall all the fun my group back in highschool had with 2nd Ed SJ. But then I saw what that printing they calling SJ 3rd was and the more I thought about it Sj wouldn't work well in Eberron. At least not as a throughily introduced 'tech'. How would Eberron react to having the ability to fly into the Syberis 'belt' and mine shards right and left?

As for IK gods being ever involved with the day to day goings in IK...I hadn't read deep enough into it yet to know that ;) But in my campaign I think that will change,...to at least more of a mythical/historical idea where tales are told of the Gods performing this and that and visiting someone,...but no hardcore proof. Mostly because one of my players is just now giving D&D a try even though he's always disliked the religous aspects, he and his wife are pretty firm in their beliefs I guess (never really gotten into a discussion) and he's said the way Gods were done in most D&D games just bugged him. So needless to say I'm keeping the god aspect to a bare minimum ;)

(His PC concept by the way is far a cleric that just has no idea why he can do 'all these odd and wonderful things' (read spells),...to which I suggested him playing a warforged :D
WarlockDa
10-17-04, 02:59 PM So far I've decided that I'm not even transferring the IK Patheon over into Eberron. I may use the God Nyssor simply as a story tool for the Nyss.

Another thought I'm running with, based solely of the "Guns and Swords" theme , lol,... pirates,...traditional classic pirates.

I'll post some more ideas as I've time ;) As always if anyone else has some thoughts or comments feel free to post them!
FenrysStar
10-17-04, 03:51 PM There is much to enjoy from IK. I like their new classes personally. If you reinstate the magic ability I like their version of the Ranger class as ell. The Mekanika is also worth while especially where Artificiers are concerned. For those that want to take a look I invite you to take a look for my yahoo group and PBEM game incorporating IK as well as other surces. http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Eberron_Advanced/
WarlockDa
10-23-04, 02:58 PM Ok few more things I've come up with after doing a little research on the IK boards.

I'll be linking the Elves from IK with the Elves in Eberron. Ik history has the Elves of Ios coming from an land from the east of West Immoren (the main area of play), so I'm merely handling this as they were a group that decided to take a different path when the Elves left Xen'drik.

The dragons in IK appear to be unique, individual dragons, as the Monsternomicon only lists a handful. My tie in here, Lord Toruk (no idea if that's spelled right,..don't have the book in front of me), which was the 'original' dragon in IK was actually banished from the rest of dragonic society. As part of his banishment he was cursed with the blight feature the IK dragon's have (intense corruption of anything around them for any length of time, radius of roughly 50 miles from their lair). As per the IK history the rest will remain mostly true, how Toruk used his own flesh to create the other IK dragons as his spawn. Although the 'knowledge' in IK that dragons are A-sexual will of course be a false assumption based on the lack of knowledge of any other dragons within their world.

Religion and healing will be handled as per the IK book with one major difference, the gods in IK don't exist and are merely how the ppl of IK worship the Eberron gods. This will also serve to exaplin the 'pain of healing' rules, where a Cleric can only heal a certain number of Hit points epr day and anything over causes the healer and character being healed to roll on a chart and suffer a negative effect. The true gods/powers are understanding enough to allow the 'misguided' some powers, but not without some punishment for being misguided.
stone_dog
10-23-04, 03:25 PM In Forgotten Forge there are a couple of "iron defender" homunculi. Keith said that they are just dog shaped constructs, but I don't know about that. I think that their creator is still around somewhere and just forgot about his old workshop for a while. when you are slain your homunculi are destroyed, but nothing says they are if you just turn into an undead. I think I will introduce an Iron Lich into Eberron...
WarlockDa
10-23-04, 03:44 PM An Iron Lich is without a doubt on my addin list ;)

Course the Deathjack is a must for any good (read evil) Dm :schemes:
FenrysStar
10-23-04, 04:23 PM I like most of what is Eberron and although there is a lot I want to add to it from IK changing the healing magic system is not one of them.

New Classes to add: Arcane Mechanik, Bodger and Gun Mage all prestige classes, some with slight alterations.

New Equipment: Everything, save maybe the games, I plan on using Dragon 321 for guns although I may just convert the carbine and be done with it.

Deities: All Eberron Dieties plus Cyriss for no other reason than as justification for all the pure tech in IK.

Monsters: Pretty much everything save perhaps the Nyss although I may just shove them in Frostfell and be done with it.
WarlockDa
10-23-04, 05:43 PM Mind you I'm only using the 'Pain of Healing" rules for clerics that worship IK gods. I figured this method might be easiest for adding the IK patheon without upsetting the 'godly' balance in Eberron.

Explaining the tech is actually pretty easy. West Immoren happens to be located in one of the larger low magic areas. Spells work, just not quite the same, some may require a higher level than normal, some have less effective results, some just outright don't work. Now these would carry over to a cleric/arcane magic user that journeys to any of the Eberron core locations, simply because they don't know anything else. Now once a magic users from IK as been within a higher magic zone and has had involvement with other magic users I'd allow them to begin working normally. Until then only spells already known would functional normally, they would still have the same magic user level req. for their spells.

I am diffinatelyplanning to have the Nyss in my campaign. If for no other reason than it's the first 'Sub-race' of the Elves that's actually more like a seperate race (being denied all the PHB elven traits for instance).

On the gun issue, one of the biggest balancing benifits of the way I'm merging the two settings, a character with a firearm that is adventuring in the Eberron side of the planet would have a rough time purchasing ammo, while PCs within the IK side will find it much easier, yet magic items will be much harder to come by. This way there is much much more control of items crossing between the two settings ;)
FenrysStar
10-23-04, 06:08 PM unless of course the characters can make their own ammo
WarlockDa
10-24-04, 10:22 AM PCs could only create they're own ammo if you the DM allow it. If there's no gunpowder,...no ammo,......no mold for the bullet itself,...no ammo.....no blasting cap....no ammo. Remember....your the Games Operation Director ;) you don't want something to happen....it doesn't have too.
FenrysStar
10-24-04, 03:04 PM And how blatantly do you deny this skill to your players?
Jackhammer John
10-24-04, 09:03 PM The gods in IK play quite a role in that setting, even going to far as to actually make healing and resurrection spells dangerous. Heck, magic in general is much less prevalent than in Eberron. It can work, but will take some effort.

In my Greyhawk campaign, IK fits very nicely just above the Scarlet Brotherhood area. It is a low magic area and we have had no issues. Works great.
WarlockDa
10-25-04, 05:59 PM And how blatantly do you deny this skill to your players?

Do you allow your players to find material for anything that they could possibly wish to create? This in particular would happen to be a perfect example,....I used to shoot muzzleloaders (Civil war era to be exact) with my father. There's a good bit that goes into creating ammunition.

1: Lead for the bullet, for the style weapons I dealt with it had to be a soft lead (able to 'cut' into the lead with a fingernail)

2: Proper grade blackpowder, and accurate measuring device. Trust me when I say being 5 grains off makes can make a huge difference :D

3: Smelting set up. For us in was merely an old iron pot about 6 inches across and a stove top.

4: Mold for the bullets and a sizing die. No bullet molds 100% correctly and you've got to force the round through an exactly sized die to remove any burrs and other excess lead.

Now with just this alone, tell me how often you'll find it in say Sharn?

It's not about "And how blatantly do you deny this skill to your players?" it's called logical sense. Would you allow a PC in a Star Wars campaign to build a powercell for his blaster while trapped on Pre-Trilogy Endor? Good players will try anything, I don't blame them a bit....I do it too LOL But there's times when a DM as to be a DM and not just let dice rolls run his game for him ;)
WarlockDa
10-25-04, 06:02 PM In my Greyhawk campaign, IK fits very nicely just above the Scarlet Brotherhood area. It is a low magic area and we have had no issues. Works great.
Wonderful :D Hopefully my group will have such luck with IK in Eberron!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
WarlockDa 10-13-04, 06:06 PM	I just picked up the Character guide for Iron Kingdoms Vol 1. I must say theme wise it has a lot in common with Eberron, and I was concidering adding elements into my upcoming Eberron campaign. Now however I'm thinking about adding the entire setting as a new continant on the opposite side of Eberron. Simply stating this area happens to be a very low magic zone would reason for the mechinika useage (the Steam/Warjacks, pistols/rilfes and the like). I wanted to toss this out for discussion and see what everyone else thought of the idea.
Bubba333 10-13-04, 07:40 PM	I too have the IKCG and am thinking of adding some of it so Eberron. I had an idea for "The Warcaster Project" (or some cooler name) that's revived by members of House Cannith. The part I'm trying to get around is the whole gunwerks bit. If you've got ideas, by all means share!
The_Declaration 10-13-04, 07:44 PM	I really like your idea WarlockDa, I never thought of mixing the two settings this way, but it can get pretty insanely good if you find interesting "bridges" and plots between the continents.
Korhal IV 10-13-04, 08:52 PM	So now you can be a robot, with a gun, riding a dinosaur, in D&D. The phrase for this is "awesome!" :D Just so long as you don't tell any of the old gamers, or they'll choke you with their bare hands.
WarlockDa 10-13-04, 09:33 PM	HEY! Who are you calling old!? :p Personally I've been gaming since the 80's and my view as always been for a group to do whatever it takes to get the most enjoyment out of their game :) As far as ideas I've had: I really can't say just yet since I literally just picked up the book today, my local game shop ever so lovingly had one of their copies of IKC on their EBay store so I had to wait the 7 day bid time. (But I got it for $22!) The biggest thought I'm having is simply adding the entire continant, which I've got to research because the map that came in the IKC book looks as if it's either a section of a larger land mass or as single land mass in and of itself. I am planning however to say there has been cross travel in the past. The Steam/War jacks could have been an invention based off the Warforged, but since the IKC land (can't recall the name) is low magic then typical Warforged simply aren't possible. Also since magic isn't nearly as common, the cultures invented firearms. Normally in Eberron such an item is uneeded, why use bullets when you have wands of fireballs? Mostly I'd like to hear ideas on making this entire 'addon' compatible. I feel that just doing it plug and play won't work or be fair to either setting. But at the same time I don't want to rewrite both settings in order to reflect history on a shared planet.
Bubba333 10-13-04, 10:55 PM	One of the biggest snags in mixing them will be the issue of the wildly different pantheons and the way they're handled. I look at mixing them as more and issue of tech and some ideas, such as PrCs ad the like.
WarlockDa 10-14-04, 06:48 PM	Depends on how you look at it. Our planet has had some very different patheons. Granted in D&D Gods are ,...shall we say more tangible, so it would be a major difference from the normal style.
Bubba333 10-14-04, 11:00 PM	The gods in IK play quite a role in that setting, even going to far as to actually make healing and resurrection spells dangerous. Heck, magic in general is much less prevalent than in Eberron. It can work, but will take some effort.
kroh 10-15-04, 09:12 AM	Very nice idea to mix the two... Throw in a little Spelljammer and you will have covered all the bases (horror, Fantasy and Sci-fi). Walt
WarlockDa 10-15-04, 06:24 PM	Heh I actually had concidered Spelljammer before I even heard of IK. Just because I recall all the fun my group back in highschool had with 2nd Ed SJ. But then I saw what that printing they calling SJ 3rd was and the more I thought about it Sj wouldn't work well in Eberron. At least not as a throughily introduced 'tech'. How would Eberron react to having the ability to fly into the Syberis 'belt' and mine shards right and left? As for IK gods being ever involved with the day to day goings in IK...I hadn't read deep enough into it yet to know that ;) But in my campaign I think that will change,...to at least more of a mythical/historical idea where tales are told of the Gods performing this and that and visiting someone,...but no hardcore proof. Mostly because one of my players is just now giving D&D a try even though he's always disliked the religous aspects, he and his wife are pretty firm in their beliefs I guess (never really gotten into a discussion) and he's said the way Gods were done in most D&D games just bugged him. So needless to say I'm keeping the god aspect to a bare minimum ;) (His PC concept by the way is far a cleric that just has no idea why he can do 'all these odd and wonderful things' (read spells),...to which I suggested him playing a warforged :D
WarlockDa 10-17-04, 02:59 PM	So far I've decided that I'm not even transferring the IK Patheon over into Eberron. I may use the God Nyssor simply as a story tool for the Nyss. Another thought I'm running with, based solely of the "Guns and Swords" theme , lol,... pirates,...traditional classic pirates. I'll post some more ideas as I've time ;) As always if anyone else has some thoughts or comments feel free to post them!
FenrysStar 10-17-04, 03:51 PM	There is much to enjoy from IK. I like their new classes personally. If you reinstate the magic ability I like their version of the Ranger class as ell. The Mekanika is also worth while especially where Artificiers are concerned. For those that want to take a look I invite you to take a look for my yahoo group and PBEM game incorporating IK as well as other surces. http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Eberron_Advanced/
WarlockDa 10-23-04, 02:58 PM	Ok few more things I've come up with after doing a little research on the IK boards. I'll be linking the Elves from IK with the Elves in Eberron. Ik history has the Elves of Ios coming from an land from the east of West Immoren (the main area of play), so I'm merely handling this as they were a group that decided to take a different path when the Elves left Xen'drik. The dragons in IK appear to be unique, individual dragons, as the Monsternomicon only lists a handful. My tie in here, Lord Toruk (no idea if that's spelled right,..don't have the book in front of me), which was the 'original' dragon in IK was actually banished from the rest of dragonic society. As part of his banishment he was cursed with the blight feature the IK dragon's have (intense corruption of anything around them for any length of time, radius of roughly 50 miles from their lair). As per the IK history the rest will remain mostly true, how Toruk used his own flesh to create the other IK dragons as his spawn. Although the 'knowledge' in IK that dragons are A-sexual will of course be a false assumption based on the lack of knowledge of any other dragons within their world. Religion and healing will be handled as per the IK book with one major difference, the gods in IK don't exist and are merely how the ppl of IK worship the Eberron gods. This will also serve to exaplin the 'pain of healing' rules, where a Cleric can only heal a certain number of Hit points epr day and anything over causes the healer and character being healed to roll on a chart and suffer a negative effect. The true gods/powers are understanding enough to allow the 'misguided' some powers, but not without some punishment for being misguided.
stone_dog 10-23-04, 03:25 PM	In Forgotten Forge there are a couple of "iron defender" homunculi. Keith said that they are just dog shaped constructs, but I don't know about that. I think that their creator is still around somewhere and just forgot about his old workshop for a while. when you are slain your homunculi are destroyed, but nothing says they are if you just turn into an undead. I think I will introduce an Iron Lich into Eberron...
WarlockDa 10-23-04, 03:44 PM	An Iron Lich is without a doubt on my addin list ;) Course the Deathjack is a must for any good (read evil) Dm :schemes:
FenrysStar 10-23-04, 04:23 PM	I like most of what is Eberron and although there is a lot I want to add to it from IK changing the healing magic system is not one of them. New Classes to add: Arcane Mechanik, Bodger and Gun Mage all prestige classes, some with slight alterations. New Equipment: Everything, save maybe the games, I plan on using Dragon 321 for guns although I may just convert the carbine and be done with it. Deities: All Eberron Dieties plus Cyriss for no other reason than as justification for all the pure tech in IK. Monsters: Pretty much everything save perhaps the Nyss although I may just shove them in Frostfell and be done with it.
WarlockDa 10-23-04, 05:43 PM	Mind you I'm only using the 'Pain of Healing" rules for clerics that worship IK gods. I figured this method might be easiest for adding the IK patheon without upsetting the 'godly' balance in Eberron. Explaining the tech is actually pretty easy. West Immoren happens to be located in one of the larger low magic areas. Spells work, just not quite the same, some may require a higher level than normal, some have less effective results, some just outright don't work. Now these would carry over to a cleric/arcane magic user that journeys to any of the Eberron core locations, simply because they don't know anything else. Now once a magic users from IK as been within a higher magic zone and has had involvement with other magic users I'd allow them to begin working normally. Until then only spells already known would functional normally, they would still have the same magic user level req. for their spells. I am diffinatelyplanning to have the Nyss in my campaign. If for no other reason than it's the first 'Sub-race' of the Elves that's actually more like a seperate race (being denied all the PHB elven traits for instance). On the gun issue, one of the biggest balancing benifits of the way I'm merging the two settings, a character with a firearm that is adventuring in the Eberron side of the planet would have a rough time purchasing ammo, while PCs within the IK side will find it much easier, yet magic items will be much harder to come by. This way there is much much more control of items crossing between the two settings ;)
FenrysStar 10-23-04, 06:08 PM	unless of course the characters can make their own ammo
WarlockDa 10-24-04, 10:22 AM	PCs could only create they're own ammo if you the DM allow it. If there's no gunpowder,...no ammo,......no mold for the bullet itself,...no ammo.....no blasting cap....no ammo. Remember....your the Games Operation Director ;) you don't want something to happen....it doesn't have too.
FenrysStar 10-24-04, 03:04 PM	And how blatantly do you deny this skill to your players?
Jackhammer John 10-24-04, 09:03 PM	The gods in IK play quite a role in that setting, even going to far as to actually make healing and resurrection spells dangerous. Heck, magic in general is much less prevalent than in Eberron. It can work, but will take some effort. In my Greyhawk campaign, IK fits very nicely just above the Scarlet Brotherhood area. It is a low magic area and we have had no issues. Works great.
WarlockDa 10-25-04, 05:59 PM	And how blatantly do you deny this skill to your players? Do you allow your players to find material for anything that they could possibly wish to create? This in particular would happen to be a perfect example,....I used to shoot muzzleloaders (Civil war era to be exact) with my father. There's a good bit that goes into creating ammunition. 1: Lead for the bullet, for the style weapons I dealt with it had to be a soft lead (able to 'cut' into the lead with a fingernail) 2: Proper grade blackpowder, and accurate measuring device. Trust me when I say being 5 grains off makes can make a huge difference :D 3: Smelting set up. For us in was merely an old iron pot about 6 inches across and a stove top. 4: Mold for the bullets and a sizing die. No bullet molds 100% correctly and you've got to force the round through an exactly sized die to remove any burrs and other excess lead. Now with just this alone, tell me how often you'll find it in say Sharn? It's not about "And how blatantly do you deny this skill to your players?" it's called logical sense. Would you allow a PC in a Star Wars campaign to build a powercell for his blaster while trapped on Pre-Trilogy Endor? Good players will try anything, I don't blame them a bit....I do it too LOL But there's times when a DM as to be a DM and not just let dice rolls run his game for him ;)
WarlockDa 10-25-04, 06:02 PM	In my Greyhawk campaign, IK fits very nicely just above the Scarlet Brotherhood area. It is a low magic area and we have had no issues. Works great. Wonderful :D Hopefully my group will have such luck with IK in Eberron!